Croatia's Plitvicka Lakes

On our last day in Croatia, we made the trip up to the Plitvice Lakes National park. Most of us thought it would be like other waterfalls we had seen. We couldn't be more wrong.

We got there about 4 o'clock and parked at the Entrance 1. Rick Steve's has this in his guide book because it has a great view of the big waterfall when you walk in.

We decided to walk to the boat and take a ride across the lakes and then take the train back. What we didn't realize is how small the walkways were to the boat dock. Sometimes it was even one small wood plank with people going both ways.

After we took the long boat ride across the river we decided to go all the way back across the lake to walk the pathways again when all the tourists are gone. It was WAY more peaceful and empty going back.Some of the best sights that we personally saw were the smaller waterfalls on the way to the boat and the big waterfall in the other direction.

Master Chef's favorite thing was the number of fish in the lake. Because no one can swim in the lakes, due to it being a national park, the fish live in an undisturbed habitat.

  

They also aren't really afraid of humans, no matter how hard Lord Byron tried.

 

Overall, the scenery was amazing...

Rovinj: Pearl of the Adriatic

When we booked our trip to Croatia, we had images of crystal blue coasts with colorful seaside shanty towns. It turns out, that "shanty town" feel was 20 minutes up the coast from Pula in Rovinj. 

 

It was so warm and beautiful, we spent two days in the town walking around the harbor seeing the surrounding islands, and even swimming in the Adriatic! Probably the best part was so many perfect photo spots!

 

 

One of our favorite things to do was take a 90 minute tour around the surrounding islands on a glass bottom boat. The nice thing was that since we were traveling in the offseason, every glass bottom boat tour guide was begging for people to take tour the local islands.  

 

We stopped at one and swam for an hour. The best part was swimming with so many fish. 

The jewel of Rovinj is the cathedral on the hill. Hiking up the hill was a beautiful thoroughfare of little streets mixed with Adriatic coast. 

 It was also a great place to just sit and take in the view, and get some drawing in as well:

Or...to photobomb your parents taking a selfie.

While we were there, Amadeus made a new friend..a seagull who had no fear whatsoever. 

Overall, Rovinj was one of our favorite places to visit in Europe.

Pula, Croatia: Roman Empire meets Urban Sprawl

Sometimes promotional photos don't completely portray a location. We originally booked 4 days in Pula Croatia based on photos that showed it as a pristine beach community with a historic old town complete with Roman ruins. When we got there, we found a little more urban sprawl than beach beauty, though Pula certainly had some of the latter.

Pula, however, did have its high points, though not enough to spend more than a day there. The sites we thought were most worth the visit were:

1) The Roman Coliseum: A fully-intact coliseum that has its nice views. For our family of 6, it was about $20 to see it, which we thought was a good enough deal, until we went in. You can see everything inside the coliseum for free outside the coliseum.

Of course, if you pay to go in, you can climb the ruins and even act like you're watching a gladiator battle...

They also have an underground area with a very small smattering of ancient pottery and a security guard who appears to be paid to stare down visitors and make sure they're not breathing on the artifacts wrong.

2) The city ruin walk + downtown market: The more we see of Europe, the more we realize that local markets are the hidden gem. With so many diverse foods and local products, we've quite enjoyed finding markets like the one in Pula, whose market is a 10 minute walk from the coliseum through a handful of Roman ruins surrounded by business buildings.

3) The rocky sea shore. The Pula "beach" is a few minutes outside of the main city. It is surrounded by hotels, a camping area, and some areas of somewhat destitute living. The overall view was nice, but the shore was incredibly rocky. We were grateful we brought our crocks and sandals. The best part, though, was swimming with the fish. Unlike many of the beaches we've enjoyed in the US, beaches in Croatia are full of diverse fish life.

All in all, Pula was nice enough, but the real draw of being in Pula is the town 20 minutes up the coast: Rovinj (which will be the subject of another post).